ABSTRACT
A full scale specimen consisting of a set of two three-storey plain masonry shear walls with openings, laterally braced with cross-walls and connected with r.c. floor slabs has been tested by subjecting it to in-plane acting cyclic seismic loads. The testing of masonry to in-plane seismic loads in laboratory is normally performed on a single pier, which represents a typical structural wall. The seismic load is simulated by a cyclic and progressively increasing horizontal load in the form of imposed displacements. The most common experiments to assess seismic behaviour of masonry under seismic loads are tests of one storey unreinforced masonry (URM) piers and have been performed in a generally similar way since 1965. The observed mechanisms support seismic resistance verification methods of multistorey URM buildings, which are based on the storey mechanism models with structural walls failing shear, characterized by diagonal tension cracks.
